Vindy Article in today's Sunday paper by Scalzo.

[YSUGO]

Comments by the ex Warren Harding rob are very troubling to me.  Said players were burned out and didn't want to play anymore at end of season and basically how I read into it ranked it. They didn't want to Play in the cold weather!  Wtf.   Etc.  Like Pelini said this team has lacked leadership from the players.  Seriously the cold weather comment and just wanting the season to end bothers me.

[Penguin Nation]

The link:

http://www.vindy.com/news/2015/apr/19/softer-pelini-emerges-in-spring/

Should half the effort result in half a scholarship?  When I went to YSU, I left for work at 3 am to work as a janitor at St Es before classes.  Others had two jobs in addition to classes.  Not wanting to play in the cold? Are you F--cking kidding me? Justin Beiber may have more stones than that.

[Wick250]

Whatever Wofford was selling, too many of his players were not buying into it.  Think back to those terrible November home losses to SDSU in 2013 and Indiana State in 2014.  In retrospect, we did indeed look like a team that just wanted to get the season over with. 

The comment about the cold weather seems hilarious on the surface, but it was a byproduct of Wofford's southern recruiting strategy.  A few players from Dixie are fine, but it is a very good thing that Pelini is striving to restore Tressel's "State of Youngstown."  Get players that will embrace the weather and use it as our advantage in a long playoff run.

[Spiderlegs]

Said players were burned out and didn't want to play anymore at end of season and basically how I read into it ranked it. They didn't want to Play in the cold weather!  Wtf.   

The 2013 season definitely ended this way. I've also heard players say the same thing about the end of that season.  I don't know that I can this about 2014.

[penguinpower]

The statement about cold weather is a symptom of what was happening under Wolford.   Too bad.  We had some good players.  Team sport.

[IAA Fan]

I completely agree with coach Bo and the tackling. They tackling was noticeably better in the first half. Better than at any time in the coach W era. In the second half, they began to pull back and hit,  but that could have been because it is spring. Bo says he did not have much of a chance to watch film, but he clearly has watched defensive footage.

[go guins]

For a team that plays in the "Ice Castle" we have had about 2 games I would call cold in the last 4 SEASONS.  Come on, that's just a catch phrase for quitters!  I thought Hess looked like he didn't have his heart in the last couple seasons and that wasn't cold at all!  Question is where does leadership come from?  You don't appoint anybody.

[IAA Fan]

Maybe this is the reason that Bo concentrated on more local product? Maybe he is smarter than many are giving him credit for? We always said that coach W put a lot of talented athletes on the field, but much less in the number of football players. When did YSU ever have the most talent on the field in the 90's? Maybe against Slippery Rock, but seldom ever else. Those guys had the heart and soul of a penguin. Like Penguins ...maybe they waddle on the ground; but in the water as on the football field, they could not be stopped.

[go guins]

1AA, not quite ready to go as far as having the best players "seldom", but I did watch them play for the national championship 6 times and thought we had the best players on the field only once in those 6 games (1994) 

[IAA Fan]

Good point Go Guins, I made too general of a statement. I was trying to say that seldom had the "hands-down" better teams against the big programs, but we found a way to win. You could not be more right on that 1994 team. I remember the struggles all season & with 2 D-II games on the schedule, I knew we had to win them all.

The first game was a home game vs. Stephen F. Austin (or maybe it was SW Texas State), we struggled and were outplayed. I thought we were the better team, but we could not get our ground game going and were down by 10 late in the 4th-quarter. Tressel put in Shawn Patton who broke loose for a huge TD of 50+ yards. The Leon Jones dropped the SFA QB for loss and forced a punt while they were trying to milk the clock against us. Then we drove late & Wilkins saved us once again; but give SFA credit, they did not fold.

That was the same year we could not do anything against DII N. Alabama. Their defense shut us down completely. In the 4th-quarter, Tressel ran 3-off tackle plays & then punted and let the defense win it for us. I don't think we had more than 1 offensive series in the 4th. I remember that I sent the N. Alabama SID an email at the end of the season with YSU finishing 14-0-1 ...and North Alabama finishing 14-1-0 ...images of both teams holding Sears trophies.

I was just checking out that roster and "holy cow" ...it is a virtual list of hall-of-famers and great ones.

[go guins]

1AA
I remember so often during those days turning to my brother at halftime and saying "we're only down 7, Tressel will figure this one out."  And it seemed he always did! 
I told our tailgate group who was worried about  JT interfering with the football program, that the opposite would be a bigger concern.  I have an open bet that in his time president: the enrollment will go up, the graduation rate will go up, and the endowment fund will double, because that’s just who he is. 

[IAA Fan]

And even though I like our schedule with the DI non-schollies ...N. Alabama was better that any of them. They were bigger than we were ...and faster. Our D just wanted it a little more.

[Wick250]

Guys, one thing to keep in mind about that D2 Northern Alabama team.  Yes, they were our strongest opponent that season, better than anybody we faced in the playoffs.  But there was a good reason for that.  The NCAA had not yet applied the academic standards for incoming freshmen (prop 48?) to D2 schools.  Northern Alabama had about 25 high quality players who could not get into any IA or IAA program.  They chose to go to that D2 school instead of a junior college, which was there only other option.  A few years later, the NCAA applied the academic standards to D2 and Northern Alabama disappeared from the D2 playoff landscape for many years.  You will never, ever again see a D2 school that was that strong.

[guinpen]

Guys, one thing to keep in mind about that D2 Northern Alabama team.  Yes, they were our strongest opponent that season, better than anybody we faced in the playoffs.  But there was a good reason for that.  The NCAA had not yet applied the academic standards for incoming freshmen (prop 48?) to D2 schools.  Northern Alabama had about 25 high quality players who could not get into any IA or IAA program.  They chose to go to that D2 school instead of a junior college, which was there only other option.  A few years later, the NCAA applied the academic standards to D2 and Northern Alabama disappeared from the D2 playoff landscape for many years.  You will never, ever again see a D2 school that was that strong.

Interesting read

[IAA Fan]

yes ...good stuff Wick!